Chicken, Chicks, and Kittens

The big chicks were running out of room in their box in the garage, so I moved them into the dog kennel. Man, this kennel has gotten a lot of use! 

The chicks did not like how open it was, so I ended up putting items at their eye level all around the base to hopefully keep them calmer. 

Our one lone chicken continues to do her thing by herself.

Well, not exactly by herself. She shares the space with two sets of kittens. 

Last summer, Mopsy had four kittens. One went off to greener pastures around the time Jaron was born, one is male (Billy), and two are female (Celia and Gracie). 

Gracie was the first of the second generation to have her litter of kittens. She gave birth in one of the chicken nesting boxes and then when the kittens were older, she moved them behind a pallet in the corner. It was a short move, only a few feet away.

 

Once Gracie and her trio moved out, Celia thought that spot looked pretty good for her litter. She tested it out the day before she had her kittens. 

Our cats enjoy visiting my in-laws' patio daily. Celia had been over there hoping for attention and maybe even a snack when her water broke. My father-in-law saw the whole thing. He went inside to get a towel, thinking she would give birth underneath their patio furniture. 

Celia had other ideas. A few seconds later she trotted over to our house with a freshly born kitten carefully held in her mouth. I had never seen anything like it before! She must have known another kitten was coming because she was moving pretty quickly toward the shed. Later that afternoon we found her in the place she had scoped out with four brand new kittens.

Pretty interesting coincidence that all of the batches of kittens we've ever had at Havenacre have been litters of four! 

Celia on the left, Gracie on the right (behind the pallet).